


Where The Universe Has Us Right

by scavengerscorner (idrilhadhafang)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Ben Solo Lives, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Resurrection, Slow Burn, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:42:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28899093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/scavengerscorner
Summary: Ben Solo lives, with unexpected consequences for Rey and Poe.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron/Rey, Poe Dameron/Rey/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3
Collections: Bad Day Collection





	1. Prologue: Alive

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.
> 
> Author’s Notes: Call this me having an excuse to do this. Also, a bit of a writing exercise in terms of (sort of) taking a ship I’m not fond of and finding a way to make it work. I’m kind of odd that way. 
> 
> Title paraphrased from this quote that nymja reblogged: https://gizkasparadise.tumblr.com/post/141994926562/in-one-timeline-we-kiss-but-the-stars-dont-come

It was long after the celebration had died down that it hit Rey. Maybe it was the adrenaline wearing off, the realization that they had won the war. Ben Solo was gone. Ben was gone, and honestly, how was she supposed to react to that?

He wasn’t perfect. That much she knew. He could be cruel to her, but he had also given his life for her, a Palpatine, someone that was supposed to be the natural enemy of the Skywalkers. He’d hurt her and saved her all at once and now...Rey didn’t know how, exactly, she “should” react to it. 

“Hey.” Finn’s voice. He and Poe came over to her, and it was there that Rey actually saw that they both looked worried. “Is everything okay?"

”Yeah.” Rey sighed. “B — Kylo Ren’s dead and I don’t know how to feel about that.”

She didn’t expect Poe to actually flinch. Finn looked grim. “It doesn’t mean what he did was okay,” he said, “But...I’m glad that he did the right thing in the end.”

Poe went rigid. Then, after a while, “I need a minute.”

”Poe!"

Finn and Rey walked after him, and it was in the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss that Rey saw Poe, doing something that she wasn’t expecting. 

He was looking over something. A damaged calligraphy set, half-melted, beyond repair. Rey didn’t know why he would keep it, especially when it was beyond saving. 

Poe looked up at Rey. “That was Kylo’s,” he said. “Or should I say Ben’s. I kept it all these years.”

”Ri’ia...you knew him.” And it struck Rey, a sort of pain that hit her all too keenly: why didn’t either Poe or Ben tell her?

”I did,” Poe said. “I didn’t tell you that my parents knew his, did I?”

”No. Why didn’t you?"

Poe looked down. “It hurt too much. And what would I tell you? That I lost my best friend, the man I loved, just because of...something?”

Rey bit her lip. She never thought she’d feel sorry for Poe. Not right here, not right now. But she said, “I know what happened to Ben. He told me.”

She told Poe. If anything, Poe had the right to know. She watched as he flinched again. As his hands tightened on the calligraphy set. 

After a while, he said, “So...basically the man I loved is dead, his own family’s indirectly responsible for driving him to the Dark Side, and Luke lied to all of us. Anything else I need to know?”

”Leia reached out to him, in the end,” Rey said. “I felt it. Even after all he’d done, she forgave him. She loved him, Poe.”

”Why did she only tell him when she was about to die?”

Rey sighed. “I guess...sometimes people aren’t good at talking. Not really."

Poe took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t talk like this. Not when Leia’s dead. I just...I need a minute.”

Rey nodded. She watched Finn lightly squeeze Poe’s shoulder, then walked out of the room with Finn.

”I never thought I’d feel sorry for Poe,” she said to Finn. “I mean, I cared about Ben, but...”

”But what?” Finn said. 

Rey bit her lip. “There was so much I didn’t know about him,” she said. “What his favorite color was, what he liked to do. I wish I could have gotten to know Ben Solo better."

Finn squeezed her shoulder, if lightly. He wasn’t happy with the idea of her just forgiving Ben. He didn’t have to be. Considering everything. Rey would never mourn Kylo Ren. She could mourn Ben Solo, though. 

***

Later, when she buried the lightsabers on Tatooine, took on the name Skywalker, it was settling into a new routine. Back where she started, she reflected sardonically. It seemed that it was just her fate to return to the desert.

 _You’re not alone_. 

Rey listened, feeling across the desert, even as she felt something — a flicker of life, of solidity. Ben’s presence. 

He was coming back. Why now? Was this some cruel trick of the Force, really, truly?

_I said I’d always be with you, Rey. And with Poe._

“How?"

 _Meet me in Anchorhead. I’ll tell you everything_. 


	2. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben meets Rey at Anchorhead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Trigger warning for rape/non-con elements when talking about what Palpatine did to Luke.

_Walking out of the cave, dripping wet and with no clue as to where her parents were, Rey doubted that she had ever felt more thwarted, more cheated. She had to suppress a groan even as she heard that sound, a sound like a stuttering hyperdrive, a record skipping, that was a prelude to Kylo showing up._

_“What do you want?” she said. He was sitting...somewhere. Given that his surroundings weren’t visible, Rey could swear it was like he was sitting across from her. It was an eerie effect.  
_

_"I would say the same about you. Did you find anything about Skywalker?”_

_”No. That wasn’t what I was looking for anyway.” Rey narrowed her eyes; she could swear that the schutta was just scanning her thoughts, but it didn’t help. It brought back memories of the interrogation room, before she’d managed to fight him off. “Stop it.”_

_”It’s not intentional. This time.”_

_”Can you control it?” Despite herself, Rey couldn’t help but be curious.  
_

_Kylo looked thoughtful. Then, “Not always. Sometimes I can use it as a tool. Other times, it’s much like...sensory overload. It was Snoke who suggested that I use it as a tool. A modification of the Jedi mind trick.”_

_Rey snorted. “I doubt it bears any resemblance.”_

_”You’re influencing someone to get what you want. Influencing their mind. That counts."_

_Rey tried not to think about that idea too much. Then, "I did what I had to do.”_

_”You seem troubled.”_

_It was stupid to be opening up to him like this. Stupid to be talking about her parents. But she was alone. Finn was nowhere to be seen. Luke, for some reason, hated her. Rey was good as alone.  
_

_So she started talking.  
_

_***  
_

In the morning, Rey woke if only to head into Anchorhead, BB-8 and her saber-staff at her side. Even as she headed into Anchorhead, she couldn’t help but notice how lonely the streets seemed. That old lady had said that nobody had come by in a long time. Was that true?

She saw him then. Dressed in strange clothes that he must have stolen from a Sith cultist’s corpse. It was distasteful, but she supposed she had done similar things to survive. 

_He’s like me_. The dyad was gone, broken with Rey’s temporary death on Exegol. It was odd, feeling the emptiness in the back of her head. But it was there nonetheless. 

“This wasn’t where I’d expect you to end up,” Ben said, softly, even as he looked over Rey. 

“You came back,” Rey said. “You’re here.”

”It was my uncle. He brought me back.”

***

”So he saved you.” Even as they sat inside the old Lars homestead on Tatooine, Ben looking for all intents and purposes like he saw a ghost, Rey couldn’t believe it. Luke, who had tried to kill Ben, saving him in the end? It was fitting. A final act of redemption for Luke.

Ben nodded. “I didn’t expect it either. I was so used to the idea for so long that he hated me. That there was something wrong with me if he saw good in Vader...but not me.”

”Ben...” How could anyone even live like that?

”But he didn’t hate me. He didn’t even want to kill me. Palpatine was messing with his head. Mind controlling him.”

”Ri’ia...” Rey stared at him for a long time, unbelieving. 

“My uncle didn’t tell anyone,” Ben said, “Because he was ashamed. Because he felt dirty for what was done to him. It...it wasn’t like Palpatine raped him. But it was a metaphorical rape.”

Rey didn’t miss the way his eye twitched. 

“Do you still feel bad for saving me?” Rey said. “Considering...who my grandfather was?”

”Never. It was the right thing to do. And...” Ben paused. “You were the first friend I had in a long time."

Rey swallowed. In a way, he hadn’t just been talking about her, when he was talking about loneliness. He was also talking about himself. 

***

They left for the hangar after recovering Luke and Leia’s sabers (Ben had been appalled at the idea of burying them on Tatooine), BB-8 in tow. Ben smiled over at him. “I did miss that droid,” he said. "I knew him too. Poe would visit me at the Academy and bring him. I see BB-8 is cheerful as ever."

BB-8 beeped. 

“I think he missed you,” Rey said. 

Ben smiled, if sadly. “I think I missed everyone.”


End file.
